It seems everyone in any type of online business has jumped on the social media marketing band wagon. Yet, if you take the time and talk to them about it, they don’t actually know what they are doing and if they do, how best to do it. Much less how to make this avenue of marketing work for them financially.
It would benefit you to learn some simple steps to make this work for you and your business. The benefits will be a better online web presence, trust between you and your readers, and a growing email list.
It can be a very simple strategy.
- Plan
- Message
- Consistency
Well, to make anything work you are going to need a game plan! Do you even have a plan? Before you can begin anything, you are going to need to figure out a few things. Ask yourself some simple questions. There won’t be any right or wrong answers to these questions, but they do need to be answered.
- Who? Who is your target market? Who’s going to by your product or service?
- What? What social media avenue does your target market use and what will you use?
- How? How will you use social media? FaceBook? Twitter? Blogging? YouTube? Pick one, learn and when you have mastered it~move to another platform.
Now you will have to do some detective work and figure out what social medium you will want to focus on at first. Sure, you may be able to use all of them, but cut yourself some slack and get a handle on one at a time, then move to the next one. Which avenue does your target market use? Will blogging be the best format? How about YouTube? Can you make a video of you demonstration a certain technique?
What is your message? Developing a message is very important. Social media really isn’t about selling, it’s about building relationships. Teaching, creating, and giving value. Information is usually what they are looking for so you need to focus on the end reader. What? What do they want to hear? What do they need? What questions do they have? When you can begin to answer these questions then you will get a feel for your message.
Lastly, you will need consistency. This will pull it all together. You will get loyal followers, make friends, maybe even fans when you have a consistent time frame in your delivery. This will also help you build trust in your new relationships. You need to decide what works for you and then stick to it. Daily blog? Bi-weekly blog? Weekly Newsletter? There are many choices and opinions on what is best. My only advice here is to pick one and stick with it! Remember, consistency!
If you take advantage of these tips you will be able to utilize the social media craze to it’s full potential. This is one of the best, and cheapest ways to build your online presence. It is only the tip, but it is a great place to begin your journey!
When you have implemented your plan, then you can move into the next phase and start monetizing. But it all goes back to building your web presence, building trust, and by using the social media platform you have harnessed one of the best~and cheapest ways~to accomplish this.
